The Stara Zagora Opera will present romantic show in Turkey's Edirne

On February 14, the Stara Zagora State Opera will present the festive concert “Swinging Love & Wine.” The special musical program, dedicated to love and wine, features the popular jazz and pop singer Vasil Petrov together with the orchestra of the Stara Zagora Opera. On the following evening, February 15, the romantic show will visit the newly opened concert hall of the Municipality of Edirne, located within the Atatürk Cultural Center complex.

This is not the first appearance in Turkey for the musicians from Stara Zagora. In 2018, ensembles of the Stara Zagora Opera presented Puccini’s Madama Butterfly in the main hall of Trakya University in Edirne. Tickets for that performance sold out within two days. The audience awaited the major event with great anticipation - the first opera performance in the history of the city. This was followed by an invitation to visit again with a ballet production of Swan Lake.

Opera and ballet gala for the 100th anniversary of the Stara Zagora State Opera

In the coming days, the Bulgarian opera house with a 100-year tradition will present in Edirne a new artistic format combining elegant swing aesthetics with classical orchestral sound. In this way, the cultural partnership between the Municipality of Edirne and the Stara Zagora State Opera is being strengthened as a consistent example of diplomacy through art, aimed at the development of cultural life in the region.

The guest performance is the result of an official meeting held in January 2026 in Edirne between the director of the Stara Zagora Opera, Vladimir Boshnakov, and the Deputy Mayor of the Municipality of Edirne responsible for Culture and Social Affairs, Tayfun Zahir. During the meeting, organized by the Consul General of the Republic of Bulgaria in Edirne, Radoslava Kafedzhiyska, with the participation of Consul Petar Arabadzhiev, representatives of the Municipality of Edirne expressed their intention for sustainable cooperation and active exchange with the Stara Zagora Opera.

The Bulgarian delegation was introduced to the new concert and theater hall with a capacity of 790 seats - part of the Atatürk Cultural Center and the Municipal Conservatory complex, opened in 2022 and established as a leading hub of cultural life in the city.

During the visit, the director of the opera in the “City of Linden Trees,” Vladimir Boshnakov, extended an official invitation to representatives of the Municipality of Edirne to attend opera and ballet performances in Stara Zagora as part of the long-term vision for sustainable partnership between the two institutions.

Read also:

Conductor Vladimir Boshnakov focuses on young musicians and Bulgarian classics

Sylvia Tomova – leading Stara Zagora State Opera’s multinational ballet company

English: R. Petkova